When television was young, there was a popular show based on the famous Superman fairy tale character. The opening of the exhibition featured the familiar saying, “Look. Up in the sky. It's a bird. The plane. It's Superman! ” How dear Superman has become to our culture and global fascination with outer space and all cosmic objects only emphasizes that there is a deep curiosity in all people about nature and astronomy, even if most people would not know to call it astronomy.
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. When archaeologists excavated ancient civilizations, even as far back as the caves, they often discovered artifacts that reflected the irresistible fascination with the stars. To this day, you can easily find a moving discussion on the subject “Is there an intelligent life on other planets?”
Many have tried to explain how humanity seems to be obsessed with space because of memory or as part of an eternal human condition. Whatever the cause, people of all ages and nationalities are deeply interested in knowing more about our little planet.
It is truly amazing because the real behavior of an avid student of astronomy is not a matter of high entertainment. You will never see the movie "Raiders of the Lost Arc" or "Jurassic Park" about the astronomer. The delight of lovers of science is to spend the night observing the cosmos with a powerful microscope. But that fact does not seem to discourage tens of thousands of people from studying astronomy each year and the great worldwide interest in stars, planets, and the universe.
There may be no other human interest in the world that does so much to make international borders even the world's enmity. Outside the Olympic movement, international cooperation to achieve greater progress in the human race in space seems to be moving forward without interruption, even when nations engaged in such activities are at war almost on the face of the earth. It is strange to watch Russian, American astronauts and other astronomers work together as astronauts even though home countries are busy pointing arrows back at home. It probably makes you think that we should put more energy and money into the space system, not less because it seems to be an obligation to end conflict rather than create it.
Why is astronomy so fascinating even though it has no dinosaurs, reptiles or any real danger for many who worry too much about discipline? It can go back to the basic wood that all people have about their natural habitat and this great mysterious object when it is called a place. Perhaps it goes back to that old saying at the beginning of Star Trek that space is "the final frontier".
But we all share that feeling of excitement each time we pull out our telescopes and look directly at the universe above us. We feel we are looking forward to the dawn of time. And when we look at the problems with the speed of light which means that most of the glittering stars out there are really light from those stars that started their journey to us thousands of years ago, we are actually looking directly at the past every time we direct our eyes to the sky.
But we need not worry that we will ever cross the finish line and that our curiosity will be satisfied. There will always be more to learn and discover in the world of astronomy. And human curiosity about astronomy is also unlimited.
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